Xiomara Batista
Xiomara is the novel’s protagonist. Xiomara is a 15-year-old Dominican American teenager living in Harlem. She is also a twin, and, until she begins to find her voice, a secret poet. In her poetry notebook…
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Twin
Twin is Xiomara’s twin brother. His real name is Xavier after a saint, but Xiomara only ever calls him Twin and sees the nickname as proof that they’ll always be a pair. Twin is…
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Mami
Mami is Xiomara and Twin’s mother; she works as a custodian. As a young teen in the Dominican Republic, Mami wanted to be a nun and devote her life to Jesus. However, her parents…
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Papi
Papi is Twin and Xiomara’s father. The Papi that Xiomara knows is silent and although he’s around in a literally sense, he seems mostly absent. He barely acknowledges his children and only speaks to…
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Aman
Aman is Xiomara’s lab partner in biology class and eventually, her boyfriend. He’s not quite as tall as Xiomara, but he’s lean and handsome. Their relationship begins when Xiomara and Aman start brushing arms…
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Get the entire The Poet X LitChart as a printable PDF.
Father Sean
Father Sean is the head priest at Xiomara’s church. He’s Jamaican and speaks Spanish with an accent that makes everyone laugh and smile. As a young man he wanted to be a professional boxer…
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Ms. Galiano
Ms. Galiano is a young English teacher at Xiomara’s school with a reputation for being strict and giving lots of homework. Though these things both turn out to be true, Ms. Galiano is nothing…
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Caridad
Caridad is Xiomara’s best friend. Caridad is kind, generous, and extremely devout. She’s been friends with Xiomara and Twin since they were babies, so Caridad is a sort of honorary family member. She knows…
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Cody
Cody is a white red-headed boy who attends school with Twin and becomes Twin’s boyfriend. Xiomara only meets him once in passing, but she can see that he’s very in love with Twin. Cody’s parents…
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Isabelle
Isabelle is the only other girl in poetry club. Isabelle has a huge blond Afro and constantly wears frilly skirts with Jordans. She’s upfront and loud about everything, and Xiomara can tell that she likes…
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Minor Characters
Chris
Chris is a boy in Xiomara’s poetry club. He uses big words in his poetry, which makes Xiomara think that he’s studying for the SAT.
Stephan
Stephan is a boy in Xiomara’s poetry club.
